1-180 - Genetic Effects on Health and Education Across the Life Course

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in large samples are used to detect genetic effects for an outcome of interest (Hirschorn & Daly, 2005). Though this methodology has identified genetic risk factors for multiple phenotypes, complex human behaviors are more likely to result from the cumulative impact of many genetic variants, each of small effect (Dudbridge, 2013). Thus, polygenic risk score (PRS) analysis, which constructs a weighted sum of the effect alleles across the genome for a given phenotype, has emerged as a useful tool to probe genetic effects for outcomes such as education and health

One challenge with using polygenic risk scores derived from GWAS is that the size of the discovery samples necessary detect small genetic effects masks the developmental complexities of the outcomes of interest. That is, GWAS necessarily sample across ages (i.e., using child samples and adult samples), though behavioral genetic studies show that developmental stage moderates heritability estimates.

The current symposium uses genome-wide PRSs to probe developmental differences in genetic effects on education, BMI, and psychopathology in three nationally-representative cohorts that span childhood (Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study), young adulthood (Add Health), and older adulthood (Health and Retirement Study). Genome-wide PRSs from large-scale GWAS (i.e., education attainment, BMI, and multiple psychiatric outcomes) are used to illustrate that both the genetic penetrance and the genetic structure of complex behaviors changes across the life course. An expert in population genetics and child development will moderate the symposium to discuss the implications of using statistical genetics in developmental science.

Sub Unit

• Biological Processes: Neuroscience and Genetics

Chair

• Arianna Morgan Gard, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Discussant

• Colter Mitchell, University of Michigan

Individual Presentations

• Using Polygenic Scores for Educational Attainment to Probe Genetic Effects on Schooling through Adolescence - Presenting Author: Adrienne D Woods, Penn State University; Non-Presenting Author: Arianna Morgan Gard, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Non-Presenting Author: Daniel Notterman, Princeton University; Non-Presenting Author: Colter Mitchell, University of Michigan

• Assessing the Phenotypic and Genetic Structure of Psychopathology Across the Life Course - Presenting Author: Arianna Morgan Gard, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Non-Presenting Author: Erin B Ware, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Non-Presenting Author: Luke W. Hyde, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: Lauren Schmitz, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Non-Presenting Author: Jessica Faul, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Non-Presenting Author: Daniel Notterman, Princeton University; Non-Presenting Author: Colter Mitchell, University of Michigan

• Polygenic Penetrance on Life Course BMI Across Cohorts - Presenting Author: Lauren Gaydosh, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Non-Presenting Author: Kathleen Mullan Harris, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Non-Presenting Author: Colter Mitchell, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: Lauren Schmitz, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Non-Presenting Author: Erin B Ware, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Non-Presenting Author: Jessica Faul, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Non-Presenting Author: Sara McLanahan, Princeton University; Non-Presenting Author: Daniel Notterman, Princeton University